That is such a good point. I purchased a yellow/green/gray layer cake I've been wanting for a while for the Cs, and the triadic color scheme idea is a great idea for the contrast. Before I get my ABs I think I will try out a triadic and get out my color wheel.

I bailed on the Bonnie Hunter quilt this year so will do both the Cuts and Bolts NYE mystery and the Merry Mayhem NYD one. Of course, it will take me a couple of weeks or more to finish them. I was surprised at how many scraps I found of the appropriate size. I think I'm only duplicating 6 or 7 of them. The background fabrics are my A and B. I'll wait to chose borders when I see how this quilt turns out.

Sorry to see you leave the BH mystery, Belfrybat, but there's no point doing something you don't enjoy.

Very pretty fabrics, Belfrybat! I like your B selection very much. It seems to lift and brighten everything.

It's really instructive and helpful to see other people's selections. I'm having doubts at present about my choices, so once I am done cutting my Cs, I will post a photo of the alternate fabric B I have, to get your opinions.

yes it absolutely does. Nice selection!

Here are my cut (making lap size) C fabrics. On the left is the original dark I was considering, which would be used for both B and E (border). On the right are the fabrics I showed previously for D and E. My thinking then was that the blue dark would be too subdued, but now I'm thinking maybe something more subdued would serve to better showcase the C fabrics than something more distinctive like the pasture scene. Any thoughts would be welcome.

The cream on the left could be used either for A or for D, and the lighter cream on the right could serve for either A or D also. Do you have any thoughts on which would be better for which, or if they are too plain or too similar to each other?

Several of my C fabrics are oriented the wrong way. For now I'm not fretting about that, but if the time comes and I think they look too dumb, I will replace with duplicates of right way fabrics.

Okay, I think I've got it! :)

I found a beautiful flecked cream that I have plenty of, which I'll use for A. For B I just bought a yard of medium gray. For D I found a very light blue in my stash, which goes well with the blue fish fabric, which I'll use for E.

I'll post a photo when I have the gray fabric (if it works.)

I understand that the outside cream will be the first outer border, and I like the left cream for that next to the blue outer border, with the lighter cream on the right nearer the Cs. And I really like your blue, it is a good pattern, not too much, not too little, and yes, it does showcase the fabrics just as you mentioned I agree. I found my fabrics but I wanted a lap not crib size, my layer cake doesn't have more than about 48 rectangles because the other fabrics are no-nothings and won't work. I got the color wheel out and that made quick work of the selection. I won't be using triad, instead I'll be using opposites on the wheel.

Belfrybat, I'm loving those fabric Cs. I'm obsessed with the one that looks like watercolor flowers, it's gorgeous!

joe'smom, I know you went with different fabrics than the ones in your picture but I 100% agree with your thinking:

Given the descriptions she uses when making fabric recommendations for A & B, I'm thinking those are going to be used both for a place to "rest the eye," so to speak, from all the scrappy fabrics & to provide contrast for those C fabrics. So I figure something simple and subdued but with high contrast to our Cs is going to have the highest chance of success. I do think your blue and cream were good possibilities though, and I'm eager to see the new potential A & B.

Rebaquilts, color wheel opposites are a great choice too!

Sorry I’m late to this thread…A quilting friend of mine sent me an email an asked if I was going to participate in Merry Mayhem’s mystery this year…so I popped in here at the Quilting Board immediately. I have enjoyed catching up on everyone’s posts this morning with a cup of coffee.

This will be my fourth MMM but with two other quilt projects that I am in the midst of finishing, I will just make a crib size this year for the sake of keeping my sanity. 😜 Since it is a crib size, the I Spy concept will work splendidly and I have two options…a fun bright layer cake called Mojito that I have on hand or weeding through my children’s fabrics for C pieces.

Hubby and I will be visiting our children on the 26th and 29th in other parts of Maine and DH will likely be consumed by football games today so I have a couple of days to catch up on cutting. We have been without power since late last night but luckily we invested in a whole house generator earlier this Spring. 🤗